24 Hours of Le Mans 2022: LMGTE AM race
The GTE-Am class has long been animated by 3 Porsches (#79 WeatherTech Racing, #77 Dempsey-Proton and #99 Absolute Racing) and 2 Aston Martin (#33 TF Sport and #98 NorthWest) in the top 5 positions.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
Ben Keating, Henrique Chaves and Marco Sorensen won the class with their Aston Martin Vantage AMR #33 which benefited from a safety-car period with five hours to go. At that moment, they were off strategy with the top 5 cars which just pitted, and #33 got in the same safety-car train, giving them almost one lap up. The trio gave up two and a half minutes after the safety-car period but was still 44,446 sec. good to cross the checkered flag first.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
Cooper Macneil, Julien Andlauer and T. Merril ended 2nd with their #79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR 44.446 sec. behind the winners after leading 163 laps of the 225 covered the first 15 hours and a serious threat for the leader the last hours.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
Aston Martin made it with two cars on the podium in GTE Am as the #98 NorthWest AMR squad of Paul Dalla Lana, Nicki Thiim and David Pittard ended 3rd. Paul Dalla Lana admitted after the race that Ben Keating made the difference as their co-drivers were pretty similar in performance.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
M. WAINWRIGHT / R. PERA / B. BARKE with #86 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR ended 4th, 3 laps behind the leaders.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
F. POORDAD / M. ROOT / J. HEYLEN with #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR ended 5th . A serious disappointment for the Dempsey-Proton team which had three operated Porsches run in the first five positions.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Nick Cassidy with AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo #54 ended 6th.
The Iron Dames Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy ended 7th with their Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo #85 after losing any chance to reach their goal of a top 5 (See the Rahel interview) after M. Gatting had to pit in the first laps for a puncture. The Dames trio progressively but surely went from P21 to P11 at mid-race and continued their steady progression to P7 in the last hour benefitting from the suspension damage suffered by the #77 Dempsey-Proton and #99 Absolute Racing-Porsches .
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
Simon Mann-Christoph Ulrich-Toni Vilander ended 8th with AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo #21.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
Vincent Abril, Louis Prette, Conrad Grunewald ended 9th with AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo #61. Abril was given a one-minute stop-and-go penalty for causing a collision with #93 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and David Perel ended 10th with Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE Evo #55.
📷 © Luc Warnotte @ 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
A. HARYANTO / A. PICARIELLO / M. RUMP with #99 Hardpoint Motorsport Porsche 911 RSR operated by Dempsey-Proton ended 11th, after leading 10 laps in the early stages and always being in the top 5. For the last stint, Picariello was ready in pit waiting for Haryanto to end his last lap when he saw his teammate ending in the gravel. The #99 Porsche was 4th and Picariello was determined to bring the car in P3 to clinch a podium seat. Big disappointment for Alessio who took his helmet off with high frustration.
